E/W have 24 points and both have a 6 card suit so game should be on.

Most pairs end in 5D and went down. One pair only bid 2D, made it and got the top board.

How do you make 5D?

Count possible losers in the west hand. 2 spades, 1 heart, 1 diamond and 1 club. Ie. 3 losers too many. What is your plan?

You could trump 2 spades but that's not enough.

A better plan is to lose J of clubs. Win the return and cross to dummy. Play 2 winning clubs and discard 2 of your losers. One to go.

Cross to hand and trump a spade loser. Bingo you have got rid of 3 losers.

Don't try the finnesse in trumps. If it wins you only get rid of one loser. If it loses you go down.

South should open 1NT and they end up in 3NT. Counting winners you have 4 spades and 5 clubs so the contract will make if you get the lead before they take 5 tricks.

If south is declarer west will lead 3 of diamonds so you can win and play out your winners making an overtrick.

If the bidding goes differently and north is declarer in 3NT east should lead 5 of hearts. This is where it gets interesting.

West can use the rule of 11 (assuming east lead the 4th highest card). 11 - 5 = 6. There are 6 cards higher than the 5 in the N, S and W hands. West can see his/her own and south so north only has 1. It could be the K (but this is unlikely as partner lead a small heart)

West should lead back the 10 of hearts to unblock the suit (top of remaining doubleton). East plays the K, 9 and last heart. On the last heart west should play the J of diamond to signal for a diamond lead (signal with the highest card you can afford). You win 4 hearts and the ace of diamonds.

Well done to Sue Patterson and Jullie Lowe who put the contract down.

This shows how inportant the opeing lead is and signals..

E/W have 31 points but no long suit. Count your winners. There are only 8 immediate winners.

The spade suit will yield 2 more winners even if north has the King so your contract is secure. However, you need to make as may tricks as you can.

When the spade finnesse works you have 3 extra tricks so that is 11 tricks.

Play out all your 11 winners watching opponents discards. North will almost certainly keep the K and J of diamonds. This means your 4th heart and 4th club become winners. 13 tricks.

Pairs in the suit contracts only made 10 tricks. Those in 3NT made 10 and 12 tricks

Plan before you play a card or you will not make 6.

In the east hand you count your losers. 2 spades and 3 diamonds. You have to get rid of 4 losers!

You can trump the second spade loser in dummy so you have to focus on the 3 diamond losers.

Two can be discarded on the 2 club winners in dummy. What about the last diamond ?

Dummy has 6 clubs. The only way to make 6H is if you can develop a club winner in dummy.

If opponents clubs break 4:3 or 5:2 you can achieve this.

You will have to trump 2 or 3 clubs in hand. To do this you need entries to dummy.

Don't draw trumps. Trump a club first and use dummies high trumps as enteries; drawing trumps at the same time.

The lead is critical. N/S bid H and D on the way to NT. The lead should be 4th best in Spades (unbid major)

Declarer should count winners before playing a card. If diamonds break 3:2, which is likelly, there are 6 diamond, 4 club and one heart tricks off the top. 11 tricks ! (If diamonds don't break you still have 10 tricks)

However, opponents who lead a spade can take 4 tricks before you get in. Lucky for you they can't take 5.

On a spade lead you should make 9 tricks.Most declarers did not make it. One got a club lead so should make 11 tricks.

Count your tricks.

This is a great example of counting your losers.

Count from the view of West - the hand with the long trumps.

You have no Spade, Diamond or Club losers. So you must keep Heart losers to one.

You have all the top hearts except the K and Q so if you can capture one with the A, or trump one, you will make 12 tricks.

This is better than trying a finnesse.

West has 21 points and a balanced hand so 2NT is correct.

East can see they have enough for game and must have a major fit. But how to get there?

East can bid 3H, a transfer. West bids 3S as reqested. East then bids 4H !!!!!!

West will wonder what is going on but, hopefully, will think it through. East must have enough for game in either major and is requesting West to choose 4H or 4S

Tricky

Three pairs made 4 Spades on this hand (not all bid). One took 4S down. How come???

Three pairs led the QC - top of a doublton. This made it easy for declarer.

Normally lead top of a doublton but not if it's one of the top 3 honors. Choose another lead.

After south shows a balanced hand with 12 to 14 points north knows they have points for game but which one ???

Kathy and Anne tried 5D but it's down 1 on good defence.

Barry and Brian and Ange and Helen tried 3NT and crossed their fingers.

Correct lead from west is the 10 of clubs (top of internal sequence). Both wests led a club.

Brian as south won the club lead with the king. Then he tried the diamond finesse which lost. A club came back but luckily west won with the Ace and didn't continue clubs. ! Lucky

Correct play and defence is for south to let the club Q win. A club comes back. West should let south win it. When the finesse loses East has another club to lead and west takes the last 3 clubs for down 1.

Very challenging bidding, play and defence.

South has just 12 high card points and so some would bid 2D. However a 7 card suit is valuable. There are 3 more tricks compared to a flat hand (eg if 3 of the diamonds were clubs instead).

South should jump in diamonds Ie.  3D. This tells partner you have good diamonds and a strong hand. It is not a lie. South is certainly not minimum.

North will push on and bid slam. Frank and Alan were the only ones to bid and make 6D

South opens 1D. With 18 points west should double. North could support diamonds or bid 1H. 1H is more helpful. East should pass.

South can now show minimum but support for hearts by a bid of 2H.

West has 18 points and many will be tempted to bid again. However, N/S have shown a minimum of 18 points. You have 18 so partner has 4 points or less. Ie. YOU AND PARTNER ARE NOT STRONG.  Pass and defend.

The computer says N/S can make 4H but the computer can "see" all the cards.

In 6H count your losers from the east hand. You have 1 potential spade loser and 1 potential club loser. You have to get rid of one.

You have a option to finesse each loser. Each one has a 50% chance of success so a combined 75% chance of making.

Before you start, is there an additional chance?

Yes.

If the club finesse works, or loses, and clubs break 3:3 you can discard your spade loser on the extra club in dummy.

If clubs don't break 3:3 you can then try the spade finesse.

As the cards lIe you can make 13 tricks.

West knows E/W have close to game points but he/she has a void in partner's suit. Some would bid 1S but 2C is the best suit and shows 10+ points. It's the best bid.

This is where it gets interesting. North has only 4 points but he/she knows N/S have 10 hearts between them. The law of total tricks says bid 4H (10 tricks). The aim is to make it really hard for E/W.

However, East has 4 clubs and a void in opponent's suit so can bid 5C. Dawn and Batty were the only ones to make this bid. Well done.

How do you play it ?

In clubs count losers in the west hand. You start with 6 potential losers.

Two can be discarded on dummy's diamond AK. The club finesse works so you are down to 3 losers. However, dummy has no hearts so trump three hearts and make 13 tricks (before drawing trumps).

Once again, Dawn and Betty were the only ones to make 13 tricks.

North has 8 point and 8 diamonds. Should you pass or open 1D, 2D, 3D or 4D ????

1D partner will think you have a normal opening so you could end up in trouble. 2D is weak with 6 diamonds so is also not right. Best open 3 or 4 D (some experts say 4).

East should double (16 points). South may pass or bid S

West should jump (10 points) in hearts but the level may be too high to do that. Bid 4 H (assume east has 3+ hearts for the double). 4H makes for E/W. Betty and Dawn were the only ones to bid this and made 11 tricks.

This is a hand where lots of different bids could happen. Very challenging 

Once East opens a spade West know you have game in spades but what if you have slam ? How do you bid it ?

Jonsey says just make a temporising bid; 2C. East can't pass.

East will jump in hearts (3H) to show a good second suit and 16 + points.

West can call for aces and end up in 6 spades

Count potential losers in the west hand;  3 diamonds and 1 club. You have to get rid of 3 losers

Draw trumps. then two diamond losers can go on dummy's extra heart winners. You can trump the club loser to make the contract.

However, for an overtrick play a club the the K then lead the 2. The Q falls so the extra club winner can be used to throw a diamond in dummy.

Trump your last loser - the diamond K

13 tricks

Count your losers from the west side. No spade losers (unless the 4 trumps are all in one hand). No hearts. One diamond. One club.

You should make the contract with an overtrick. However, it is important to make as many tricks as possible. On this hand you will get a very poor score if you only make the contract.

You can't get rid of the losing diamond. What about the club? You can try.

Draw two rounds of trumps. Then leave trumps. Play two top clubs and trump your club loser. However, south overtrumps in with the last trump. You have lost nothing because the 3 of clubs was always a loser anyway.

You make the remaining tricks for 11 tricks. Judy and Marie made 12 tricks and got the top board (I'm not sure how).

Of interest; Don and Evie were playing north/south and over 4 spades they bid 5 hearts as a sacrifice. That was a very good result as they were not doubled and only went down 4 for -200. The top board for N/S. If they were doubled down 4 is -800 for a bottom board. Always double sacrifice bids.

North has 14 points, a 7 card suit and a 5 card suit. Open 1D planning to reverse (or jump) in H next bid to show a strong hand.

South has a very strong hand. In Clubs there are probably only 3 losers. AND partner has opened.

However, just bid 2C. North can't pass.

North bids 2 or 3 hearts.

South knows you have slam but not a fit in either of partners suits. Clubs is probably the best suit even if partner has none.

South takes control and partner must trust him/her. Call for aces. You end up in 6 or 7 clubs. 7 goes down because of the bad club break.

Count your losers from south's hand. One spade (the K), two hearts and two diamonds.

You can easily chuck the two diamond losers on the extra club winners in dummy. So, you now have 3 losers and should make the contract.

It is tempting to take the trump finesse hoping west has the King. This would give you an over-trick.

However, what if east has the King ?

On this hand, if you take the finesse you go down. East will win and play another club. West will trump. That's an extra loser.

You should play safe. Play to the ace of trumps. Then the queen of trumps - losing to the king. West has no more trumps so the only other losers are the two hearts.

When west leads 7 of clubs you  have to consider it may be a singleton. You have 8 clubs so they have 5. They will divide 1:4 a surprising % of time. And why else would west lead it ?

Count immediate winners. You have 5. You need to create another 4 so it's not going to be easy.

On the 3 of clubs west plays the Q and you stop and think. 

You can easily promote a winner in diamonds by driving out the ace. But where are the other 3 winners coming from ?

The club lead is lucky. You have the 8, 9 and 10. The only missing card above these is the Jack. We often overlook the value of these "spot" cards. Where is the Jack likely to be ? East  ! (who lead the suit and why would west play the Q if he/she had the Jack too?)

So, you can finness east for the Jack and get 3 club tricks for sure. If east covers the 10 with the Jack you get 4 club tricks.

This lucky situation means you only need to create one or two more tricks to make 3NT.

Before taking your winners why not lose the lead? The opposition may solve your problem by leading something that helps you. No lead can hurt you.

I would play a small diamond to the 10 (expecting to lose it to the ace or Jack). As the cards lie this creates two diamond tricks. Lose another diamond to create a third diamond trick. Or, play a spade to the Jack and hope for a favourble lie of the ace and queen. This should make the contract but preserving enteries to each hand is tricky. You must create winners before taking your established tricks.

Off course, this is easy to see now. At the heat of the moment it is hard to see the right play at the right time. This is why we love the game.

Ange and Helen bid and made 3NT. Well done

N/S have 33 points, all the aces and three kings. 7NT or 7 hearts are good contracts.

When dummy comes down you have no spade losers, no heart losers, no diamond losers (you have one extra winner here) and one club loser. Even if you throw a club on the diamond you still have a loser (the king).

The only way to get rid of the loser is to finnesse east for the king. In this case it works.

Well done to Frank and Alan for bidding and making 7 NT

The big hand is on the table and both hands have 4 trumps.

Count losers from either hand. Let's do it from your own hand (West)

You have a spade loser. You have no trump or diamond losers. You have two club losers. 3 losers. MAKE A PLAN

You can always trump one club loser which brings losers down to two.

You have an extra diamond winner in dummy. Can you throw a loser on that winner??  Yes !

Draw trumps. Play the diamonds ending in dummy (east). On the last diamond throw a spade from hand. You can then trump a spade.

You have to use your last two trumps separately. If you play all your winners off the top (like a NT hand) you will only make 11 tricks.

As soon as the lead is made, and dummy comes down, the first step is to count your losers. If you don't do that you will not make this hand.

Count losers in east's hand. You have no trump losers, one heart, no diamonds and three clubs ie. one too many. MAKE A PLAN

Look at the trumps. You have all top ones above the 7. The best plan is to trump two club losers in dummy with the J and 10. They cannot be over trumped

Win the K of clubs and lead a club to the Ace. South willl trump ! However, you always had three club losers and you can still trump two in dummy

This plan has 100% chance of working.

The next best plan is to hope the 5th club comes good. This has 86% chance of working (but it doesn't on this hand)

The next best plan is to finness the diamond and then throw a losing club on the extra diampnd winner. This has a 50% chance of working (but it succeesd on this hand)

West has 15 HCP but cannot open a NT as he/she has a void. Open 1S

East know you have a fit and is strong. He/she keeps the bidding low by making a forcing bid of 2C. This is just to see what west does (west can't pass).

West. You have 15 HCP, a void and two good five card suits. Make any bid that shows you are strong. Simplest is probably 3H which shows 16+

East knows you have a fit and about 33 HCP. Call for aces.

Noone was in slam but one pair must have looked and then chickened out because they ended in 5S. How come ?

You don't want to lead a major (away from the A or K). You havent got anything in diamonds so the best suit is clubs. Did you get that ?

What card from the club suit ? Top of a sequence or broken sequence is an excellent lead. So, the K of clubs is the best lead. Two people got it right on the day but three lead the 10 - not a good lead.

Of interest; on good defence 3NT goes down two tricks

Three E/W pairs were in 4 Spades. One brave pair were in 6 spades. In any case, as defenders you want to get as many tricks as possible.

What did you decide to lead ?

Look at the E/W hands. Counting losers in east's hand they have no spade or heart losers. They may lose a diamond (the K) and a club (the queen). As the cards lie it looks like you will lose both those tricks as you can't finesse them.

If south leads a diamond or a club he/she gives away a trick. You finesse yourself !!!!!!!

One person made the best lead - a trump.

As it turns out 6 spades made because of the lead. Top board for Barry and Brian !!

N/S have 27 points and yet 2 pairs ended in 1NT, 1 in 2NT, 1 in 3H and ONLY 1 in game (3NT). One let west play in 2S

South should open 1D. West overcalls 1S. North knows they have game and makes a forcing 2C. South bids 1H. North 3NT.

East leads 4S (partner's suit). North must duck. Declarer has 7 sure winners. The plan must be to finess the clubs into the east hand because east will be out of spades.

As it turns out the QC falls and all the clubs come good for 11 tricks

Note Jonesy and Hutcho playing ACOL and south ended up in 3NT. The spade lead gave them an extra trick.

The computer says 6 clubs makes !!

N/S should get to 4 spades easily. Once they have a fit north can value the singleton as 3 so he/she has 17 points. bid 3 spades. South has 14 with a good 5 card suit maybe calls for aces and ends up in 6 spades

4 spades is still a good contract but to get a top board you have to play it well and get overtricks. (if you just make 4 spades you will get second to bottom board)

South counts losers in 4S. There is 1 heart, 1 diamond and 2 clubs.

The lead should be J clubs (a small diamnond lead gives them a trick and they can then make 13 !). Top of a sequence is the correct lead.

Two clubs can be trumped however, trump with the ace on the second trump so you can lead a little one to get back to hand and draw trumps. Try the heart finness which loses. However, then you have an extra heart winner to throw the losing diamond on.

You should make 12 tricks for a top board - like Pennel and Jenny did (I wish I'd done that)

Everyone was in 1NT or 2NT

Bidding should go 2C (23+ points), 2D (less than 8 points), 2H (5 hearts)
South has 3 hearts and 2 points so should show that by bidding 3H (partnership has at least 25 points)

You may end up in 4H going down - but that is the correct bidding according to the system

Interesting

This hand 11 came up as an anomoly because both sides made game scores (often this indicates an error in entering the contract so the computer "flags" it)

NS have 17 HC points but one pair made 4 hearts (very well bid and played)

EW have 23 HC points but can make 5C or 5D (one made it - well bid and played too)

So it is not an anomoly - just an interesting hand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOWEVER

When looking at the hand we notices one NS pair were in 5D making 10 tricks. This is impossible so the wrong declarer must have been entered. The lead confirms this.

Since we are at it; hand 19 must have been entered or put back wrongly too. The contracts put down are impossible.

N/S have 25 points and a fit, so 4S is a good contract.

North starts by counting losers assuming normal distribution.  There is 1 trump losers (if they break 3:2). there are no losers in the other suits !!!!

Once North discovers the bad break the work starts. As long as West doesn't win more than three trumps the contract will make. However, it is very important for North not to try to get the last two trumps out. Leave these and start taking other winners. When West trumps in you are safe as you then have more trumps than West.

Of interest, Glenys and Lew ended in 5 Clubs and made 6. Well done (but 4 Spades making 5 is a better score)

4 Spades, 4 Hearts and 5 diamonds by East/Wsst are all good contracts. Most were in 4 Hearts

Count your losers from the East hand. You could lose a Spade, a Heart and a Diamond. 

Most Souths lead the Q of Spades singleton. This made it easier as one loser went away. In general don't lead a singleton honor. Make declarer guess.

As it turns out declarer can make 13 tricks if you guess well (one declarer made it)

Of interest; Lorraine and Yvonne were N/S and bid 5 Clubs (with only 13 points). They went down 5 for a penalty of 250 points. That was a good result because most E/Ws made a vulnerable game for 650 to 710 points. Well done Lorraine and Yvonne.

West must bid as you are short in spades and East is probably short too. 3 spades doubled might make !!!! Partner is asking you to bid at the 4 level - he/she must be strong !!!

I would bid 4 hearts as partner is promising support in the other suits especially the major. If East bids 5 of a minor you are happy with that too. Just don't pass.

If North leads the J of spades to make 4 hearts trump three spades in dummy, before drawing trumps, to make 10 tricks

Other hands of interest

Hand 3 N/S were in NT. Most Wests lead a small heart. The correct lead is the K which is top of a sequence

Hand 21 E/W were also in NT. A good lead is 4th highest in the heart suit. Someone lead the 5th highest which gave a trick to declarer who won the trick with the 9. This gave them a top board

If you want to improve your game, read up on opening leads